BLOGGING AGAIN! Costume Jewelry Re-Do!

 

 Last week Joe and I attended the annual Antique Week at Madison-Bouckville- we drove down around 10am. It was supposed be a beautiful day........... spoiler alert- it WAS but it was also very HOT.

Parking cost $5 this year- and from the looks of it, Friday was a popular day.

I usually love to look for things like Furniture at this event but now that we've been in our current home from 15 years (!! WOW !!) we do not need one more piece of furniture at this point.

Other things on my shopping list are:

Skeleton Keys. Yep- every year. I bought 4 this year and was astounded at the price  I paid- I tried to dicker but I'm no good at that. So $3 per key probably wasn't that bad considering but it would have added up quickly.  My budget was pretty tight.

I also got a brass Key plate Probably from a door- has a nice decorative element to it. They'll all be great for jewelry making at some point. I will probably try to savor the use of each one.

Letters: I'm constantly looking for metal letters ( I Think they were from some sort of marquee sign type thing) that I got in the past there ... they were brilliant because they were an aluminum color but solid weight- and had holes at the top and bottom of each letter. I think at the time I just picked up the [&] - a few of them if I remember correctly.

And other Bits and Bobs with jewelry in mind.

Then I came across a woman's tent...FULL TO THE BRIM with tables and tables of gaudy beaded Costume Jewelry. Now- I understand that this probably would have lured any jewelry oficianado. Anyone can repurpose the beads into pieces. But my thought was:

"Wouldn't it be fun to buy a few pieces and re-design each into my own style using as many of the beads and maybe beads from stash- would make a great blog post!!"

So, here we are.

I am calling it a SERIES. And here is the first one. Let's discuss it.

Lots of Earthy elements called to me in this one. Shell, Wood, Glass. Those big slices of wood, and the other slices of Antler? Bone? Hard to tell. I didn't end up using all of the beads- I didn't use the clasp. And I created 2 finished pieces with the beads, plus a few from stash. First, I made some earrings:

I used the wood slices, the funky shaped wood beads, some brass charms and small turquoise rounds from stash.

And then a Necklace- I pulled in one of the Skeleton Keys from my shopping trip, an Owl charm from Green Girl Studios x Vintaj . And I strung the beads- they spoke to me. I added in some brass beads for a little extra weight amongst all the lightweight wood and shell beads.  I interspersed the Shell shards around the piece in 3 different places instead of using them in one bunch like the original!

What do you think!? Aren't you excited to see the others I got in the series as I redesign them?? Maybe this is going to be the big BLOG REJUVENATION we've all been waiting form.

Maybe I'm not the only one who has done this? What do you look for when searching for pieces to re-do?

If I like doing this, maybe I can find some good Ebay Lots to revamp too, to  keep the series going!

Check these pieces out on my website!

EARRINGS

NECKLACE